The Birthday Series – Bon Cop Bad Cop (2006)

You know the score by now. I’m counting down to my birthday by reviewing one movie that was released on or around August 2^nd for every year of my life. Today I give you 2006.

This is not going to be a really in-depth review because Koutch reviewed this film quite accurately not long ago. But seeing as this was released on August 4^th (in Canada) I decided it was a good enough excuse to watch the movie, and now I am obliged to give it a review.

David Brouchard (Patrick Huard) is a rule-breaking detective from Quebec and Martin Ward (Colm Feore) is the by the book detective from Ontario, who is waiting for a comfy, safe desk job. When a body is found that lies across the Ontario/Quebec border, the respective police departments decide that a little working together would be beneficial for public relations. The body in question leads the two men onto a serial murderer who is targeting the movers and shakers in the Hockey League, who are planning on selling the Quebec team to Texas. David and Martin must get over their differences in personality and approach to work together to track down the killer.

As Koutch pointed out, this movie is far from original. You could choose any buddy cop action movie from the past twenty or so years and these characters are the same. But what makes this a little unique is the use of language, and a look at the relationship of English and French speaking Canadians. I’ve not seen many Canadian films. I can’t think of one off the top of my head, so this aspect of the film pretty much made it for me. The story is utter stupidity, but the relationship of the two cops is interesting. The fact that it changes from English to French and back again so quickly, sometimes in the same sentence, made it difficult to keep up, so I paid a little closer attention than I may have if it was all in English.

Colm Feore we’ve seen many times before. He’s always a solid actor, usually playing a shifty government bureaucrat, but here is the first time I’ve seen him as a lead, and he’s good. The development of his relationship with Brouchard is well handled, as it goes through all the usual phases. You know how it goes. Distrust and dislike, then begrudging respect, and finally bosom buddies. Ward is the straight man, and with less interesting problems than Brouchard. He’s a single father who doesn’t relate well with his teenage son. There’s not much more to his character development than that, but Feore is a quality actor and makes the most of a thinly drawn character.

I’ve not seen Patrick Huard before, but here he’s a likeable screen presence. His character is quite interesting (compared to Ward, who is much more standard). Brouchard lives in an adjoining apartment above the apartment of his ex-wife and daughter. It’s quite an unusual situation and it gives the character a really interesting shade of grey. He’s not a bad guy, and he obviously loves his daughter and ex-wife, but he is obviously a flawed person and his wife must have simply had enough. The fact that they remain close is unique in this type of film. Usually for a character such as this its a dead wife, or the ex-wife is an insufferable bitch who takes “the ice cube trays out of the freezer” when she moves out. 100 internets for the person that gets that reference. I also really liked the scene at his daughters ballet recital. This scene showed the love he has for his daughter. Above all Brouchard is a good guy, but not a good husband.

The film is well directed by Eric Canuel. The action is nicely staged, and I enjoyed the gag involving the mascot. I wasn’t that impressed with the way the details of the story were developed however, and the killer, particularly his motivation was pretty weak. I did enjoy his denouement though. I also enjoyed learning the meaning of the French word ‘tabarnac’. Might be useful next time I go to Paris.

‘Bon Cop, Bad Cop’ is a solid entry into the buddy cop genre, and well worth checking out if you get the chance.

Merci for coming to my 2006 anniversaire. Now tabarnac off.

 

For Droids a jolly good fellow!

2009 – The Collector

2008 – The Midnight Meat Train

2007 – Hot Rod